[girlangler]

I don’t have a ping list for this topic, and have to run. Can you two ping your lists?

[Miss Marple]

The question now is who bought wheat gluten from ChemNutra?

[metmom]

Any word on whether or not this wheat gluten is used in human food, too? I find it hard to believe that it’s not a possibility.

[PissAndVinegar]

“Yesterday (4/2) ChemNutra sent recall notices to all four of its direct customers.”

They’re really on the ball there...

[Carpe Cerevisi]

I can’t eat the stuff anyway.

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. Life/Health BUMP!

[yldstrk]

I have yet to have heard one word of apology from the Chinese for this abomination. I suggest refusing to buy any of their products, which are produced in ways that are not hororable in my moral lexicon in many instances anyhow, for the foreseeable future.

[Nomorjer Kinov]

Dangers like this are why, presumably, the FDA exists. In the US, all of our industries are hampered by regulations that escalate costs to domestic manufacturers. With respect to foodstuffs, there is probably a good reason to apply extra caution.

That said, foreign food products that do not have to comply with US food standards should be strictly scrutinized upon arrival and quarantined until approved.

[VeniVidiVici]

What I want to know is why is China exporting ANY food?

I buy only fresh produce from the USA. I will buy some fruit from Chile but that’s about it.

[Hattie]

Well our local news last night said not to worry because none of the wheat gluten was in human food. Will we ever know?

[em2vn]

We have the poisoned pet food and the contaminated peanut butter. Does anyone know where the peanuts came from that were contaminated since we now know where the wheat gluten came from.

[kittymyrib]

Why did China feel it had to issue a statement that its wheat gluten was not harmful to humans yesterday? Because most Canadian baking products contain Chinese gluten. Be sure to check the label to see where your sweet rolls or cookies were produced, particularly if you buy them at a discount or dollar store. With no safety regulations in China, buying any food for man or beast made there is a huge gamble.

[JeanLM]

The issue is not wheat gluten, which is a sub-commodity like a lot of other agricultural products. The issue is the melamine contamination found by the FDA in the gluten. Nowhere have I seen anything about the melamine concentration in the gluten. This is a key to the cause and effect relationship being apparently accepted as fact by everyone.

Melamine, which I’ve worked with for many years, is not a hazardous material. It is relatively insoluble in water so it is surprising that the Chinese used it as a fertilizer for the wheat, which is the guess as to how it got there in the first place. It is also an expensive chemical, not like urea which is a common fertilizer everywhere.

So why the Chinese used it is a mystery. Of course China is the country where, “night soil” is the standard method of crop fertilization, so they probably use whatever nitrogen rich stuff they can get.

Melamine is by the standard tests on mice and rats, slightly toxic, which means it has a LD 50 of between 500 and 5000 Mg/Kg of body weight. The actual test number is 3000Mg for mice and ~3,500Mg for rats. Above 5000 a substance is not toxic to mammals.

The EPA does not even see fit to regulate melamine.

All of this tells me melamine is not the culprit. Maybe there’s something else in the gluten. But for there to be enough melamine in there to kill a 10 lb. cat or small dog, we’re talking 15-16 gms of stuff. There probably isn’t that much gluten in there.

[stevio]

Expect more like this. 2004 was the first year when we imported more food than we exported. This is probably due to over regulation in this country which leads farmers to sell their land to grow housing developments.

[manic4organic]

Might I suggest...organic. No pesticides. Sam’s and Costco carry organic pasta, cereals, etc. Flame away.

[Mrs.Nooseman]

Now I know why two Grocery store chains here in the NW have pulled all their bread from the shelves.
I only know of those two,because they are the stores I go to most.

[RedWhiteandStuuuuu-pid]

CHEMNUTRA has been backpeddling from Day 1 re distribution of tainted product, re earliest date it received said product (initially December, then backpeddled to November) - now DelMonte said the Wheat was marked for HUMAN CONSUMPTION and oh joy, the FDA is investigating the DELIBERATE PLACEMENT of the “taint” otherwise known as rat poison.

For anyone who has forgotten the lessons of Ptech, please note - the “terrorists” whoever they are certainly they are anywhere they *want* to be, including within the Chinese “government”... they also have the entire food distribution blueprint to at least 80 percent of the US including the US military.

Likely this was one of their black flags run up the pole to expose where the holes are.

[Tolsti]

Why are we importing *any* food from China? Even pet food? This is nuts.

How much are our politicians and businessmen that run this country paid off to import this garbage? Surely we can produce safer and cheaper internally?

Well, I’ll just have to get my cat non-wheat food now, which is EXPENSIVE, but too bad! I’m sick of this China junk poluting everything in this country.

[goldstategop]

I highly recommend kosher S'better Farms chicken and all beef hot dogs. Its not only kosher, its 100% gluten-free.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[aruanan]

The company is particularly troubled that the certificates of analysis provided by the above-named supplier did not report the presence of melamine.

Hey, a certificate of analysis is that paper thingy you supply to the user to be able to sell him whatever you think you can get away with.